Plant · P-383

Downy Serviceberry

Amelanchier arborea

Downy Serviceberry is a small tree that opens the fruit season twice over - it flowers earlier than almost anything else, feeding the first native bees out in spring, then ripens a crop of iron-rich, blueberry-like fruit that birds usually strip before it is fully ripe. Left to the birds it is excellent habitat; netted or overplanted for a human share, the fruit is eaten raw, cooked or preserved. Flavor varies a lot by seedling, from bland to genuinely sweet and juicy. Left alone it suckers into a shrubby thicket rather than staying a single clean trunk.